The Hills Have Eyes

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The Hills Have Eyes

R

Released Jul 22, 1977

1h 23m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

67%

Tomatometer

27 Reviews

54%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Wes Craven's cult classic about cannibalistic mountain folk on the trail of stranded vacationers in the arid Southwest.

Critics Consensus

When it's not bludgeoning the viewer with its more off-putting, cruder elements, The Hills Have Eyes wields some clever storytelling and a sly sense of dark humor.

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Variety Staff

Variety

A satisfying piece of pulp.

Jul 22, 2008

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Derek Adams

Time Out

A heady mix of ironic allegory and seat-edge tension.

Feb 9, 2006

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Craven's latent sick streak gets a major workout here, and the rudest shocks seem to center around the "good" family's parental figures.

Rated: 2.5/4

Sep 10, 2003

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

works as a taut thriller, but it also leaves plenty of room for political and ideological tunneling, if only for its horrific inversion of American family values

Rated: 3/4

Jan 6, 2022

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

I've never been a Wes Craven fan, yet if there's one picture of his that I would place above all others, it would be The Hills Have Eyes.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 27, 2021

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

In essence, this is a cruel odyssey prizing the survival of the fittest, both family units operating by their own socially dictated codes, reduced to brutality and savagery for survival.

Rated: 3.5/5

Sep 30, 2020

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James B

While the original two get overshadowed by the remakes I can kind of see why as the stakes aren't high and it's just more slow paced.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

04/13/25

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Audience Member

Greatest camping movie ever made.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/25

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Chris B

Boring and rubbish. This movie was not scary at all.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/06/25

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Movie C

Super Family Friendly! Watched this with my girls and they absolutely ADORED it! I recommend for family movie nights, get that popcorn ready ladies! An amazing heartwarming coming-of-age film both the kids and teens will enjoy.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/29/24

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Audience M

Plunging it’s comfortable middle-class family into becoming barbarians to protect everyone they love. Wes Craven’s Hills Have Eyes manages to be a key movie shaping horror for decades to come and a brutal illustration of the enduring human spirit. It asks us what we would be willing to become to protect the ones we love.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/21/24

Full Review

Blu B

This is so close to being good. The setup is simple and interesting, it builds tension pretty well, the villians are pretty cool, and overall it's half decently made all around. It defintely has trappings of a exploitation flick though. Some of the actors including the teens aren't the best thing in the world and the older ones are the best ones but there killed off so the acting quality goes downhill. It also gets a bit jumpy between rescuing the baby and trying to call for help. It inturrupts the tension honestly. The low budget feel defintely works in it's favor though overall. I's kind of weird how you'd think there would be more gore iin this but honestly it's pretty tame despite being loaded with violence. It can be a borderline low budget action flick at times. This just needed some better acting, a bit more focus in the script towards the second half, and a bit more suspense. This is a candidate for a remake for sure. If your a hardcore fan of Wes Craven than consider checking this out or hardcore 70's exploitation horror fans.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/31/24

Full Review

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Synopsis

Wes Craven's cult classic about cannibalistic mountain folk on the trail of stranded vacationers in the arid Southwest.

Director: Wes Craven
Producer: Peter Locke, Kurt Tarvis
Screenwriter: Wes Craven
Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment, Vestron Video, Image Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: Blood Relations Co.
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 22, 1977, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 11, 2016
Runtime: 1h 23m
Sound Mix: Mono

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